Dinner Disaster
by angellwings
Summary: Jaitlyn: Jason decides to cook Caitlyn dinner. For Standard-Ang3l.


**A/N: **Standard-Ang3l is facing the ever stressful end of the fall semester right now so I wrote her a fic to get her through it. ;) I hope she likes it and I hope you guys like it too! Enjoy!

Happy reading!

angellwings

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><p>Dinner Disaster<p>

By angellwings

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><p>Caitlyn pulled into Jason's driveway and made her way to the front door. Jason was expecting her. He'd wanted to meet at his house for their date tonight. She knocked and when Jason didn't answer after a few minutes she used her key to let herself in. She stepped through the door and heard a commotion in the kitchen as Jason rushed to meet her.<p>

"Caity!" He yelled frantically as he slid to a stop in front of her. "I—I didn't hear you knock!"

Her eyes scanned his frame and she tried to hide a smirk as she spotted his frilly pink apron. She chuckled and spoke up with clear amusement in her voice. "Did you spend your whole day slaving over a hot stove, _dear_?"

Jason blushed as he looked down at his apron. "I borrowed Ella's apron."

Caitlyn smirked at him. "And _why_ did you borrow her apron?"

"Because I…I wanted to cook dinner for you, " Jason said sheepishly.

Caitlyn smiled warmly at him. "You did?"

He nodded slowly and opened his mouth to speak, but Caitlyn interrupted him.

"Jase, that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. You know, no guy has ever made dinner for me before? They were all too intimidated by my foodie side to risk it," Caitlyn said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. Jason made a surprised noise against her lips but by the time the shock wore off and he thought to respond she'd pulled away. He stared at her as if he were in a daze and blinked slowly. Caitlyn laughed at him and wiped her lipstick off of his lips. "Thank you, Jason. This is perfect."

He gulped and nodded. "I—I should go check on dinner."

Caitlyn nodded with a bright smile as she watched him head back toward the kitchen. She walked off toward his dining room to see if he'd set the table and as she reached the threshold of the room Jason poked his head out of the kitchen door.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you! There's salad and bread on the table. You should go ahead and get started. I'm gonna be _several_ more minutes."

"No problem," Caitlyn said as she glanced over the table. She saw the salad and the rolls, but she didn't see any dressing. "Jase? Did you put dressing on the salad?"

"No, I didn't think about that."

"No worries," Caitlyn said as she turned and headed toward the kitchen. "I'll come and get it."

There was another crash in the kitchen as Jason burst through the kitchen door. "No! You can't come in here!"

Caitlyn's eyebrows rose and she gave him a strange look. "I can't?"

"I—I mean, don't come in here or else I can't surprise you," Jason said as his voice cracked and his face flushed. "Go sit down, please? Which dressing would you like? I'll bring it to you."

Caitlyn nodded and gave him a skeptic look. "Itallian."

"Comin' right up," Jason said as he ducked back inside the kitchen. She heard him call to her after the door had closed. "Go sit down, Caitlyn!"

She walked back to the table and smiled as she finally noticed the setting. There was a votive candle in the middle of the table and it was surrounded by sunflowers. She smiled softly and ran a finger across the votive gently. It was made of stain glass and shaped like a birdhouse. It was very Jason and she absolutely adored it. She sat down at one of the place settings and chuckled at the plastic dinnerware. She needed to take Jason shopping and help him pick out some sturdier every day stoneware. The plastic dishes were just _sad_.

She dished out some salad for herself and picked up a roll out of the basket that sat in front of her plate, and just as she set her paper towel in her lap Jason suddenly appeared with a bottle of Italian dressing. She smiled at him and kissed his cheek as he leaned forward to set it down in front of her. "Thank you."

Jason blushed and nodded before he quickly retreated back to the kitchen.

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><p>Jason crossed the threshold into the kitchen and quickly closed the door behind him. He leaned against his kitchen wall and breathed deeply. He was in full blown panic mode. The dinner he'd been working on all day was ruined. Crispy, dry, and <em>black<em>. It was absolutely destroyed. Not only that but his dessert hadn't come together either. He'd attempted to make a chocolate soufflé, but it had collapsed and then the top and edges had been blackened. He'd tasted it and immediately thrown it out. Something on the stove sizzled and smoked and he groaned tiredly. He didn't even bother looking at what it was before he dumped it down the disposal and ran the water in the pot.

He'd wanted everything to be perfect. He'd wanted to _impress_ Caitlyn, but _this_ definitely wouldn't do that.

He tapped his forehead gently with a balled up fist. He'd seen Winnie the Pooh do that when he needed to think and it had always worked for him. It stood to reason it would work in this situation too. "Think, think, think. What to do? Come on, Jason!"

Her jerked open his freezer door and stared at its empty shelves. He had two things, and he knew neither of those were an option. There was no way he was going serve Caitlyn chicken nuggets and crinkle fries. He refused. He slammed the door and then opened the door of the fridge. He knew it was impossible that something new had appeared there since he'd looked at it half an hour ago, but he couldn't resist checking. He whined pathetically as he closed the door. This was bad. This was very bad.

"Jase?" Caitlyn called from the dining room. "Is everything okay in there?"

He winced and sighed before he answered her. "Yes! No problems. Everything is fine."

Out of desperation he opened the freezer door again and pulled out the two bags of frozen chicken nuggets and frozen crinkle fries. He was desperate, and in desperation _any_ sort of meal sounded better than serving Caitlyn _air_. He pre-heated the oven to the temperature the directions instructed and threw the pieces of chicken and fried potato down on a cookie sheet. While the oven preheated he clamored around inside his shelves for the silver tray and cover his mother had given him. He never used it and neither did she so she'd given it to him to store.

If he was going to serve chicken nuggets and crinkle fries then he was going to make them look _damn_ fancy.

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><p>Caitlyn stared at the kitchen door worriedly. It had been nearly twenty minutes since Jason had brought her the Italian dressing. She'd had her fill of salad and rolls and she was starting to suspect something had gone wrong.<p>

"Jason?" She called as she pushed her chair away from the table. "Do you need any help?"

"No!" He called. "Stay right there. I'm on my way with the food right now. Promise."

She tucked her chair back in and spoke up skeptically. "Okay."

She heard the door open behind her and turned to see Jason walking toward her with a large covered silver tray. She smiled softly at him.

"Very nice," Caitlyn said with a teasing wink. "I'm not sure it matches the plastic ware on the table, though."

Jason smiled weakly. "I guess I'll have to buy new stuff then, but for now…bon appétit."

He pulled the lid off the tray and Caitlyn froze. She forced a blank expression onto her face while she thought about how to respond. Chicken nuggets and fries? That couldn't have been what he'd been slaving over all day. She bit her bottom lip before she put on a pleasant smile and looked up at him. "This looks _great_, Jase! Let's eat!"

His eyes widened and he blinked at her. "What?"

"I said we should eat," Caitlyn told him. "I'm starved. Is there any barbecue sauce?"

"B-barbecue sauce?" Jason asked in shock. "You want barbecue sauce?"

She nodded. "You can't have chicken nuggets without barbecue sauce, Jase. And I think we need ketchup for the fries."

He gulped and nodded. "Okay, I'll, um, go get you some."

He set the tray down on the table and before he walked away Caitlyn stood up, fisted his collar in her hands, and pulled him in for lingering kiss. She pulled away and smirked at him. "Hurry back, Bird Man. I don't like eating alone."

He walked away with a confused expression and Caitlyn chuckled to herself. Oh yes, this definitely wasn't what he'd planned. Jason came back with four little bowls filled with barbecue sauce and ketchup. He set one of each in front of her and then set the other two in front of his own plate.

"How's that?" He asked.

She smiled and nodded. "Much better."

They started to eat in silence but every so often Caitlyn would make a noise that suggested she was enjoying her meal very much. Jason didn't get it. She had to know. Caitlyn knew him too well not to see through him when he was attempting a cover up.

"Jason," Caitlyn said with a smile. "This is _really_ good. I'm serious. You did a great job."

He huffed and pushed his plate away from him. "Stop it."

"What?" Caitlyn asked.

"This is terrible and you know it," Jason told her.

"I never said that," Caitlyn told him.

"It's French fries and chicken nuggets, Caity," Jason told her with a flat look. He huffed before he spoke up again in a louder tone, "And we're only eating it because I ruined the amazingin dinner I had planned for you. There was gonna be roast and soufflé and all your favorite things, but I _ruined_ all of it. Every single bit. All I had left was frozen foods! You can't honestly be enjoying this! It's reheated _cardboard_!"

Caitlyn smiled softly at him. "So, this isn't what you intended to make?"

He rolled his eyes and flashed her a small smile. "You know it isn't."

Caitlyn chuckled softly. "I had my suspicions."

"I wanted this to be perfect," Jason said with a sad sigh. "For you."

She stood up from her seat and walked over to where Jason sat. She placed a hand on his cheek and then used her other hand to tilt his chin upward so she could see his eyes. "This _was_ perfect, Jason. This is still the sweetest thing _anyone_ has ever done for me."

"I wanted to serve you _good_ food. I wanted this to be one of those meals you would never forget," Jason told her honestly.

"You still don't get it," Caitlyn said with a chuckle. "I'm never going to forget _this_. Look, I may _love_ food, but I care about you more."

Jason's head snapped in her direction and his eyes widened. "What? Did you just say that you care about me more than you _love_ food?"

Caitlyn nodded.

"Does that mean that you…_love me_?" Jason asked.

Caitlyn gulped nervously. "I—I didn't say that."

Jason grinned knowingly and stood up. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. "But that's what you meant, isn't it?"

Caitlyn bit her bottom lip and blushed. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked away from him. "I guess that all depends on what your response would be."

Jason chuckled. "Caity, I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble or been this frustrated by the outcome if I didn't love you. I think I—I think I've always loved you."

Caitlyn smiled shyly at him. "You have?"

Jason nodded. "Since Camp Rock."

Her smile widened and she wrapped her arms around his chest before she answered. "Me too."

"Really? Or is this some cruel mind game you're playing with me?" Jason asked in shock.

Caitlyn laughed and smacked his arm. "Okay, I know I like to torture you, but I would _never _torture you like _that_. I'm not that mean."

"I don't know you can be pretty mean someti—"

She fisted his shirt collar in her hands and forcefully pulled his lips to hers which effectively cut off his sentence. Jason groaned and quickly resigned himself to the kiss by tightening his hold on Caitlyn. She deepened the kiss and moved her hands up until they reached the hair at the nape of his neck. Caitlyn pulled back and smirked at him.

"Do you think we can reheat all this food later?"

Jason's brow furrowed. "Why?"

Caitlyn chuckled and winked at him. "Oh, Jase, have I taught you nothing?"

She turned on her heel and headed down the hallway toward his bedroom. "Where are you going?"

"Just follow my lead, Bird Man."

A shirt suddenly landed on his head and Jason examined it as he removed it. It was Caitlyn's. He gulped nervously before he grinned slowly and ran after her. If this was the reaction he got to a travesty of a meal then he almost feared how she would react if he managed to cook a _good_ meal. He smirked and made a mental note to sign up for cooking classes. That was definitely an experiment he wouldn't mind performing.


End file.
